Senior editor Julia Kramer’s mother, Jill Weinberg, shared her family’s challah recipe with us—it is truly revelatory. All we can hope is that our faithful version comes close. (For best results, bake weekly for several decades.) This recipe makes two loaves, but it can easily be halved. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.

The nostalgic yellow cake flavor in cupcake form. If using a darker muffin tin, keep an eye on the edges—those pans encourage more browning, and you might end up removing these from the oven a few minutes earlier. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.